I did it!
By His grace and the support of my loved ones, I survived nursing school. I graduated on Sunday August 17th!!!

The graduation festivities began when my cousins from Seattle flew in Thursday August 14th. We celebrated with food of course and lots of laughter! My aunt & uncle followed on Saturday. It was so nice to have the 8 of us all reunited, even if it was only for a brief weekend.

The Pinning Ceremony
It was very emotional for many reasons. First of all, I was surrounded by family who have been by my side throughout my ups & downs of the last 15 months. Additionally, I was so nervous to give my Tribute Speech to all of our nursing instructors in front of 180 guests. Plus I was also in charge of organizing our class slideshow. I could not relax and enjoy the ceremony until after both were completed. Plus I was so frustrated once again by the lack of support from the faculty in organizing our pinning ceremony. Our entire class was responsible for putting on our OWN ceremony with little or no help from our instructors.

But ultimately, I knew this was the culmination of all the blood, sweat, and tears my nurse-mates have endured- and that alone brought tears to my eyes. It was Dr. Highfield's speech that began to trigger all these emotions. Then it was the student speech given by one of nursemates that triggered the tears that I could no longer hold in. It was crummy timing because I was next on the agenda to give my tribute speech to the teachers. So I had to quickly compose myself in front of the whole crowd. But my family and friends were so sweet to reassure me that my tears demonstrated sincerity and genuineness. The slideshow was yet another bumpy ride due to many technical difficulties and even got cut off before it was supposed to end. We finished with a buffet and picture-taking galore.

Although the pinning ceremony was not as smooth as we hoped it to be, it was the best our class could pull together with our limited financial resources and support. I'm just so glad to be done with this phase of my life.

The Family Grad Party
My parents and sister threw me an awesome grad party @ the Chinese A& W Seafood Restaurant. They outdid themselves!!! In fact, it was kinda like a belated debut (minus the 18 candle & roses)...haha! My sister was an awesome party planner! She designed and made all the cute party invitations. Put together the cute give-aways. And created the cutest slideshow highlighting my journey thus far. Derrick, Ang, Mia, Trish, Em, Fran & Dee did so much to help out too!

I am humbled by all the love I received on my grad weekend. It was truly a reunion of sorts. We saw family and friends we haven't seen for over 10 years. We got to reminisce & laugh with yummy food. Thank you to you all!! I am truly loved.

Here's a little taste of my Graduation Extrabaganza: